David Rousseau Social Contract

The Social Contact starts out with one of his most famous quotes.
With the famous phrase, "man is born free, but he is everywhere in chains," Rousseau immediately asserts that the modern society represses the physical freedom that is our birthright. And that it does nothing to assure civil freedom for the benefit of society. He suggests that legitimate political authority comes only from the social contract. The social contract seems to be defined as an implicit agreement amongst the members of society to cooperate for the benefit of society. An example is to sacrifice individual freedom for the better of the state. Rousseau explains the collective grouping of all citizens the "sovereign," and insists that it should be considered to be like

an individual person. Each individual has a particular will and idea that is aimed for the benefit of oneself, the “sovereign” will express ideas that are beneficial for the whole. The so-called sovereign is looking to go the most good for the most number of people, finding the common good in things. The sovereign only has authority over issues that are of public concern. Yet in certain domains its authority is supreme. Rousseau goes on to recommend the use of the death penalty for those who violate the social contract.
Rousseau wished that all laws must ensure liberty and equality.

Anything beyond that could vary depending on any local circumstances. Meaning that each state should have its own system and take care of its own matters. While the sovereign exercised legislative power by laws, states also need a government to practice executive power, in order to carry out day-to-day business. There are many different forms of government, yet they can roughly be divided into democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy, depending on their size. A monarchy is considered the strongest form of government. It is best fit for larger populations. While different states are more fit for different forms of governing. Rousseau maintained that aristocracies tended to be the most stable of them all. He said that the government is different from the sovereign, and the two are almost always in conflict. This type of conflict will be the down fall of the state, but his idea was that healthy states can last many centuries before they will dissipate. Rousseau states that the people can and should exercise their sovereignty by meeting in regular assemblies. It is often difficult to persuade each and every citizen to attend assemblies, but attendance of such events is essential to the overall well being of the

state.
Citizens should elect representatives of the state in order to protect and service the public. When they vote, during the assemblies, people should not vote for what they believe is what the general consensus is. Rather Rousseau implies that a healthy state will vote for what each individual wants. This will prove that even large states can assemble all of their citizens under one. Rousseau compared this to the roman censors, where two censors were responsible for maintaining census and supervising public moral. His idea was to enroll a couple of the top picks from the citizens, in order to control and observe the community. This would help solve issues and ensure that each citizen feels their opinion was taken into consideration. It would be the role of the censors in office to voice public opinion. While everyone should be free to observe their personal beliefs in private, Rousseau suggests that the state also require all citizens to observe a public religion that encourages good citizenship.